ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴘᴜʀᴘʟᴇ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ || ᴋ.ᴛʜ + ᴊ.ᴊᴋ ✔️

nine: uncertainty

Consciousness came gradually, like the sun peeking over the horizon, begging to be welcomed by the boy's eyes which weren't quite sure if they wanted to be open just yet. But they did open, and Taehyung soon found himself staring up at his apartment ceiling. He didn't know how long he had been asleep. He didn't even recall falling asleep in the first place.

Nor did he recall Jungkook falling asleep next to him, kneeling on the floor with his head resting against the edge of the couch cushion and his hand holding Taehyung's own, oh so delicately.

The touch of that hand. Gentle, soft, warm. Taehyung couldn't remember the last time he had held someone's hand - probably not since high school, he thought, when Yoongi would at times hold his hand as a habit of his protective nature.

It felt nice. Secure. However Taehyung was still very bothered by all this, as he genuinely couldn't remember what had happened for him to be in this situation.

His head pounded. That in itself acted as a reminder.

Oh. It was probably another dizzy spell.

They were always a hassle. But rarely did they inflict him strongly enough to make him lose consciousness. Had something else happened?

Looking down at Jungkook, Taehyung let out a deep sigh, wondering if he should wake the boy up or let him sleep. He felt Jungkook squeeze his hand. Maybe he is awake.

He was far too exhausted to feel embarrassed by the situation at this point. That being said, Taehyung lifted his other hand to place on Jungkook's head, and at the realization he received no immediate reaction, Tae intwined his fingers with the locks of the boy's soft, dark hair.

Intimate. It felt oddly intimate and Taehyung experienced a sudden rush of blood to his cheeks, which then urged him to retract both hands from Jungkook.

This, in turn, caused the sleeping boy to awaken.

Raising his head, Jungkook blinked about twenty times before making eye contact with Taehyung.

"Taehyung!"

An exclamation of genuine relief. His face looked a bit pale, Tae noted, but seemingly from worry rather than sickness. Then again some did consider worry a sickness, hence the saying 'worried sick'. Whatever the case, the sheer amount of brightness in Jungkook's smile alarmed Taehyung enough that his words escaped him. He shouldn't be that happy.

"Taehyung, I was in such a panic, you have no idea," Jungkook blurted. He sounded out of breath already, as if sleeping had only been more draining for him. "You, you just fell and hit your head, and I didn't know what to do if it were a concussion, so I called your neighbor over, and he said not to worry and that you would probably wake up in a couple hours, but I waited two hours and you still weren't up, so I got scared but ended up falling asleep, too..."

"My...neighbor?" Taehyung furrowed his brow. Then he thought about it. "Oh...did he have dyed hair?"

"Yeah, he said his name was Jimin."

Tae gave a nod of understanding. If anyone, his cheerful, friendly neighbor would be the one to come to the rescue. Cheerful, friendly Jimin who always said good morning to Taehyung, who in return could never bring himself to even make eye contact. But he couldn't help it. Something about that pleasant, amiable nature of his frightened the part of Taehyung terrified of making friends.

He didn't want to feel like he owed anybody. If it were Yoongi, it would be fine, but this was a near stranger who had no reason to take precious time out of his day to make sure Taehyung was alright.